Graphic showing protesting to protect our children. Art by Aliyah Brown

By Aliyah Brown Staff Reporter

Throughout the years the internet has debated if posting a child on social media is exploitation. Sharing pictures or information about your kid might jeopardize his or her privacy. When information is published online, it is impossible to regulate who sees it or how it is utilized. This might attract unwelcome attention and possibly pose a safety concern.

Pictures of children may be used without their parent’s permission for a variety of purposes, including marketing, memes, and even improperly altered images. According to Statista, an online consumer data company, more than 4.26 billion people across the world used social media in 2021, and that number is projected to climb to more than six billion by the year 2027. Social media usage, including Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok, is one of the most prevalent activities on the internet. 

Many people consider Tik Tok as a big platform for expressing their opinions, and they may do so quite loudly since it is extremely simple to create a burner account, an account used for actions that the user does not want to be linked to their regular account.

On Tiktok, a child and her mother are facing a lot of anger and criticism, with many claiming it’s all for financial benefit. Often, the child’s mother will display footage of the toddler’s clothing and hair routines. Yet, many people began to form a subreddit and debate whether this is in fact child exploitation.

One video of the child began to generate strange comments about what size diaper the toddler wears and what her diaper looks like, bringing to light another type of concern. Several mothers engaged in the comments, however, because they had never seen such a large platform, they are not all able to comprehend how many predators may be signed on.

Child predators are often hidden in plain sight. They utilize the anonymity of the internet to contact youngsters and obtain access to personal information such as their location, hobbies, and online activity. They may connect with them through social media, online gaming platforms, chat rooms, or other online forums.

Child predators pose a major danger to the safety and well-being of children. It is critical for parents to educate both themselves and their children on this. 

Another compelling reason why children should be better safeguarded online and not abused for financial gain is because of the strong association between child exploitation online and child labor.

Since their brains haven’t completely matured, children don’t have the cognitive ability to understand child labor and the long hours and the acting that they sometimes have to do.

Another issue of showing one’s child on the internet happens more frequently outside the home. Children have numerous difficulties at school and being blasted on social media where millions can criticize and harass them adds to their plate. When your life is shared on social media, people feel as if they know you and may comment on your life.

It is necessary to take a multi-pronged strategy in order to successfully fight all kinds of exploitation of minors. These efforts must include identification, prosecution, victim assistance, and prevention. 

Protecting children against exploitation and fostering their overall wellbeing is a shared responsibility that may be carried out by governments, non-governmental organizations, and regular people alike. This might involve the implementation of education and awareness campaigns, the improvement of child protection systems, and the delivery of specialized assistance to child victims and survivors.

Sharing private information about your child on social media could affect their future in ways that are unpredictable. Potential employers, college admissions officials, and other individuals, among others, may look into a person’s social media presence in order to learn more about that individual. Anything that is uploaded online might be difficult to delete and may have a negative influence on your kid in the future.

It is crucial to ensure your children’s safety, so here are a few things you can do to protect them:

Educate your kid about internet safety, the perils of revealing personal information online, and how to utilize the privacy settings on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Use monitoring tools to assist you in keeping track of what your kid is doing online and keep a close check on what they are doing.

Create guidelines for your kid on when and where they may use the internet, as well as time constraints for how much time they can spend doing so.

Cyberbullying occurs through electronic means of communication, such as social media and text messaging. It includes the use of technology to harass, humiliate, or frighten a person, often repeatedly and over an extended period. Victims of cyberbullying should seek assistance from an adult they can rely on and report the activity to the proper authorities.